An Ounce of Hope(70)

After a moment of tense silence, a laugh of incredulity burst from him. "Shit, woman, you're killing me."

"I'm sorry, I was in a world of my own and I thought you'd be longer in there and-" Grace paused for a moment before creasing into infectious giggles. "Oh my God, your face."

Max couldn't help but laugh with her and it felt so damned good. "Mine? What about yours?"

He shook his head. He felt totally unbalanced around her, he lacked control, all sense eluded him, yet, instead of it causing any anxiety, he found himself embracing it. Her spontaneity and apparent amusement at his enduring desire for her were fresh and new, leaving a sensation of something that felt suspiciously like happiness creeping through the dark crevasses of his soul.

She snorted and breathed deeply, trying to regain some sort of calm while wafting her hands by her face. "I've just done my mascara, dammit!"

"Okay, well, I'll go down to hang with the guys while you finish"-he motioned toward her-"you know, dressing."

Grace coughed a laugh. "Okay."

Running his hands through his hair in a fruitless attempt to delete the images invading his mind, Max found his uncle and Josh sitting by the bar in the sitting room. Both men whispered heatedly, clearly up to shit, but sat up straight, shutting up quickly when they saw Max approach. Bastards. Uncle Vince cocked a suspicious eyebrow and opened his mouth to speak.

Max held up a hand. "Don't think because you're old I won't beat you," he said simply, to which both men boomed with laughter. Max took a seat next to them, smiling.

"Well, at least a hammock is creative," Uncle Vince muttered around the lip of his beer bottle. "Even your aunt and I haven't tried that."

Both Josh and Max groaned in distaste before the latter dropped his head to his forearm. His uncle slapped his back. "Oh, come on, Maxie, lighten up! When was the last time I got to rib you about getting fresh with a girl, huh? Let me have my fun!" He turned his eyes back to Josh. "I remember when his father and I caught him with this girl at the back of his shop."

A disbelieving laugh exploded out of Max. "Really? We're still on that?"

"Absofreakinlutely we are, boy." His uncle pressed a finger to the bar top. "Until I can't speak no more, we'll be on this!" 

Josh chuckled. "What happened?"

Uncle Vince looked far too excited for Max's taste. "Well, Max's daddy and I were-"

"Seriously?" Max complained through a smile.

"-working on this hot as hell Corvette, when Connor noticed that Max had disappeared." He shrugged. "Wouldn't have bothered Connor usually, he let Max have a lot of freedom, but Max should have been helping out at the shop as part of his punishment for something else he'd done. Little shit was always in some sort of trouble." His words were truth, but he smiled fondly at Max.

Josh grinned. "Where was he?"

"He being me?" Max asked, lifting a hand. "I am sitting here."

Without turning, Uncle Vince waved him off. "Had this little blonde thing pressed up against the hood of his daddy's Mustang and was struggling to unfasten her damn bra!"

"It was a front fastener!" Max argued with arms wide at his sides. "How the hell was I supposed to know?"

Uncle Vince snorted. "Connor and I must have stood there for a good minute listening to him curse the godforsaken thing before the girl spotted us." He and Josh laughed harder. "She upped and darted, flushing crimson and calling Max names even I'd never heard of."

"How old were you that you hadn't been introduced to front fastener bras?" Josh asked through his chuckles.

"Twenty-five," his uncle joked before Max could reply with the actual answer of sixteen.

Max found himself laughing at the memory while he poured himself a Dr Pepper. His father had been more concerned that there was an ass print on the hood of his prize Mustang than about his son trying to get laid with some girl. That same girl, Sarah Miller, had never even looked at him again after that. Not that Max had blamed her. In fact, if he remembered correctly, he was pretty sure Carter fucked her at a party not long afterward.

"Oh, to be young again," Uncle Vince mused. He nudged Max's shoulder and winked.

"Leave the boy alone, Vincent."

Max sighed in relief at the sound of Aunt Fern's voice. "They're bullying me again, Aunt Fern," he grumbled. "Tell them."

"Bullying." Uncle Vince mocked with a snort. He pointed at Max with his beer bottle. "Don't use my hammock for your nefarious plans and I won't!"

"Nefarious?" Max laughed. "Aunt Fern, I think Uncle Vince has been watching late-night TV again."